Summary
Contents
`This book confirms David Harris' status as a leading theorist in contemporary culture and leisure in the UK. He offers a distinctive, coherent and authoritative guide to the major concepts and debates that should engage leisure scholars and scholarship' - Dr Peter Bramham, Senior Lecturer in Leisure Studies, Leeds Metropolitan UniversityWritten with the needs of today's student in mind, the SAGE Key Concepts series provides accessible, authoritative and reliable coverage of the essential issues in a range of disciplines. Written in each case by experienced and respected experts in the subject area, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages understanding without sacrificing the level of detail and critical evaluation essential to convey the complexity of the issues.Key Concepts in Leisure Studies:• Provides a student-friendly guide to the key debates in leisure studies• Reflects recent developments in the field, encompassing related work in media studies, cultural studies, sports studies and sociology • Cross-references each 1500 word exposition to other concepts in the field• Offers definitions, section outlines and further reading guidance for independent learning• Is supported by the author's website http:/www.arasite.org/keyconc.html• Is essential reading for undergraduates and NVQ students in leisure studies.
Pleasures
Pleasures
It is fairly easy to tell when we are feeling pleasure subjectively, but more difficult to study and explain it and especially to measure it. A number of theoretical approaches are available to try to do all three and to arrive at general categories of pleasure detectable in leisure activities. Classic work here involves seeing pleasure as rooted in the experience of being able to participate immediately, or of experiencing ‘judgement’ or ‘beauty’.
Section Outline:Specific pleasures in leisure activities. Generalizing about pleasure: tension balance. The pleasures of bodily participation and the pleasures of intellectual detachment. Academic pleasures. Barthes: plaisir and jouissance. ‘Flow’ and its characteristics: operationalizing flow; flow and its social dimensions.
It is clear that leisure activities are pleasurable ones. Indeed, the presence of pleasure ...
